When Silvie Martin moves to New York from Texas with her husband, Simon, and their one year-old daughter, Mary, she is filled with the joy and hope she derives from their shared faith. But no sooner have they moved into their new home, which backs on to their church, than her husband is brutally murdered before her very eyes. The only trouble is, the shock has completely erased her memory… memory…
Now, eighteen years later, Detectives Stone and Dehan have to piece together a crime where their prime witness remembers nothing, and the suspects are as bizarre as they are unlikely: Reverend Paul Truelove, bombastic and irresistible to women, Humberto, the mysterious, shambling freak who speaks a language only he understands, El Chato, the Mexican housebreaker, and even Sylvie herself…
But Stone and Dehan know, where sex and religion mix, nothing is ever simple. And the deeper they investigate, the more convinced they are, there is something they are not seeing…
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Nothing says guilty like a stupid lie, and he kept on lying. Interesting dialog between Dehan and Stone of how they find the suspect in a cold case.
The detectives have a sense of humor , going over their notes at a bar and a beer, Enjoyable.
Nathan Squiers is back with a new Crimson Shadow novel, and that book – Sins of the Father (Book 2) – is quite frankly superb. There’s a new super-vamp in town and Xander and Marcus have their work cut out for them, with the odds seemingly against them and the clock running out. Don’t count them out, however, but instead count on one rollercoaster of an exciting and well done story. Easily recommended.
Entire series is a must read!
I must say that I was disappointed with the unlikeable and stereotypical characters. The preachy tone in this book was a turnoff, too. I won’t spoil the next reader’s fun with details that would give away the ending, but I’m not happy with the shallow storyline either. To make matters worse, the usual rapport between Stone and Dehan was sadly missing. Keeping Dehan/us out of the loop so much resulted in a disconnect. And I don’t remember Dehan being Jewish in the earlier books in this series. Was this added for convenience? By the way, “shag” isn’t a term used in The States.
Blake Banner is to me a replacement for Nelson DeMille. Don’t loose Nelson but read Blake when you want an author that also doesn’t wrap things up in one or two pages.
I will always look for this author. There aren’t words to explain how much I enjoyreading this author
I’m a big fan of this series, and this book did nothing to change that opinion. Stone reminds me of one of those rare people who know the philosophy of discipline, patience and self-control that forms the foundation of the martial arts whereas Dehan struggles to learn those skills. But she’s learning and the evolving relationship between them is all the more special because it’s so subtle.
The plot is timely and well-developed and touches on issues and paradoxes that could keep philosophers and graduate students busy for years, All that plus highly entertaining.
I have only two criticisms of this book. One issue is shared by many writers: the use of more formal narrative language and syntax in dialogue. Although I’m sure there are people out there who avoid using informal contractions when they speak (like my uptight old granny), it seems out-of-character for Stone and Dehan as well as many of the other characters in their books.
Second, the quality of the character development and plot of this and other books in this series has raised my personal mystery standard. Because of this, after I finished this book, I switched to nonfiction rather than read another mystery by another author of lesser skill and be disappointed or unjustly critical because it didn’t measure up.
A good effort. I would read more by this author.